Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Corp., during the presentation for the prototype OLED television.

He scaled back costs with the goal of finally stopping the bleeding at Sony’s troubled television division. He’s started to realign the company’s portfolio of businesses with acquisition like Gaikai, the streaming online gaming technology, while selling off its chemical products operations.

Mr. Hirai took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show to highlight the progress that the company has made and – despite a hiccup or two – he said Sony is on the comeback trail.

After the presentation, Mr. Hirai stopped at a media reception where he fielded questions on a wide range of issues from PlayStation Vita sales (“low end of what we expected”) to whether there is any truth to the often-rumored possibility that Sony may sell its entertainment arm. (“It’s not for sale.”)

Mr. Hirai carefully avoided making any headlines, but here’s a glimpse of what he said on a variety of subjects.

Will Sony get out of the TV business?

Mr. Hirai said it remains committed to its television operations with no plans to exit the business. Sony is now reassessing the smartest way to invest in the business. “It still continues to be an important area,” said Mr. Hirai.

Is Sony still on target to achieve goal of returning the TV division to profit?

He said he’s talked about how Sony needs to shrink to grow again. In order to do that, it has given up some market share.

“The first thing we need to do is not to pump more TVs into the market, because they’re money losers at this point,” said Mr. Hirai. “We’ve got to stop the bleeding first.”

How are PlayStation Vita sales?

“I would say it’s on the low end of what we expected,” said Mr. Hirai. He noted, however, that it takes 5-10 years before he can say a product has been successful. He said similar questions were asked about the PlayStation 3 early in its cycle, but he now sees that console as a success. “Long term is what is important,” he said.

How were year-end holiday sales?

Mr. Hirai said it was “pretty much” in line with expectations although he noted that Sony revised down its full-year revenue estimate in November.

There is always talk that Sony Music and Sony Pictures is on the block. Is there any truth to it?

(He was quite emphatic so here’s the quote.) “I’ve said this so many times, but those properties are not for sale. A lot of people may say if Sony puts it up for sale, we’d be interested. But that’s different than Sony putting it up for sale. They’re not for sale.”

How about selling the battery business or other divisions?

Mr. Hirai said nothing has been decided with selling the battery business, but it is one of the businesses that Sony is looking at – along with a bunch of other businesses. Basically, he said if the business does not add to Sony’s core electronics business, or helps position Sony in the emerging market, or vaults Sony into the medical business, the division might be divested. “I’m leaving no stone unturned,” he said.

He said it is too early to tell. But he said that the videogame hardware business is very competitive with a long history of manufacturers struggling to build a videogame platform business. “It’s not an easy business to get into,” said Mr. Hirai.

How were Windows 8 PC sales over the holidays?

Mr. Hirai said it was in line with the general industry trend of disappointing sales although Sony had a few Windows 8 Vaios that are in still in high demand. He said that in some markets, there was deep discounting of Windows 7 machines to clear inventory and that hurt Windows 8 PC sales.